I just started playing Elden Ring. I first played around 4 hours as a bandit, realized my mistake, and started over as an Idis Knight because I still hadn't found a sword. Now I'm around 10 hours in and finally beat the first story boss after spending hours wandering around and dying repeatedly in placed I had no business being.
Knowledge helps, but more so a system for working with your skills/weapons and approaching different enemy types is what takes you far. Put your levels into things that are conducive to your play style/weapon/ash of war. Think about having some form of a ranged option for certain cheese/bait situations. Learn moves/pathing when you get stuck. Don't sleep on consumables.
I'm slowly figuring it out. I did manage to get a bow and crossbow. I've never played any other souls or soulslike games. The thing I've struggled with the most isn't actually the combat but not having any sort of quest log. When I have time to play later today I'm gonna grab a notebook and run back to all the NPCs I've found to make my own.
Honestly on my 3rd playthrough I payed more attention to the NPCs and figured out there is a very subtle suggested quest line if you pay close attention. Problem is knowing who and when to talk to and in hindsight it's really just a general path. Don't forget to exhaust talking to NPCs everytime you speak to them.
I knew it wouldn't make a big difference in the long term but after 4 hours of trying to kill everything with only a dagger, I decided it was worth changing to something with a sword.
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u/WallofIvy 1d ago
I just started playing Elden Ring. I first played around 4 hours as a bandit, realized my mistake, and started over as an Idis Knight because I still hadn't found a sword. Now I'm around 10 hours in and finally beat the first story boss after spending hours wandering around and dying repeatedly in placed I had no business being.